Jon
Thank you again for contacting George. We don't wish to bug him, just honor his legacy. I talked to Tevis Cox this evening and he should be here on this forum shortly. He said they bought the sub from a guy in Bayview, Idaho just south of here perhaps some 8 years ago. Bayview is were the Navy does allot of submarine sonar testing. Perhaps when Tevis's dad Don gets home from vacation he will have allot more data for us on history and such. There was original Kittredge K-250 plans that came with the sub. I would venture to guess that George would of provided plans to the people he build them submersibles for, or it is just a sub built privately from his plans.
I gathered also from Tevis that the dome protective weldment that is now gone was designed as a sort of ice breaker. With regards to the Kittredge plans I don't wish to infringe on George's copyrights so I'll proceed carefully with perhaps a little more guidance for you and others. For safety and legal reasons the K-250 and K350 plans can and have stood on there own. I just thought that if I put all this effort into the K-250 CAD models that it could help other builders as a 3D visual aid. Some people like my self have a harder time thinking in 2D. I agree that George's plans are well worth the money and if I did any CAD work on them that perhaps it could be given free to who ever buys plans in the future to help them get even more excited about there sub dreams. I plan to copy into CAD models, the K-250 sub here in Sandpoint as it is today, but it wouldn't be that hard to remove any none original K-250 plan modifications and so I could keep true to the design as it is on the plans. Some times up here in the north we get cabin fever, so it's good the keep the mind and body busy.
Respectfully,
Brent
From: "Jon Wallace" <jon@psubs.org>
Reply-To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Subject: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Great Update on the old K-250 sub in Sandpoint
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2007 19:06:48 -0500
Brent,I'll ask George if he put any identifying marks in his subs. He was pretty clear the last time that he hadn't built this particular sub, but if it was modified at a later date he might not recognize it as such. As you suggest, an identifiable marking would clear up the mystery. I'm curious though....the current owner doesn't know the history of the sub? Who did he buy it from? How did it end up where it is today? I may have missed that information.Regarding the Kittredge sub plans, it's true that some elements of them such as the motors and controllers could be replaced with newer technology such as minn-kota and 21st century electronics. The value of both the K-250 and K-350 plans are that the structural elements are timeless, and both sets of plans were certified by various agencies such as ABS, Lloyds of London, and Nippon. So from the perspective of a habitat that is going to safely bring you to the rated depth and back again, they are still well worth the price George is asking for them.We are currently preparing to work with someone on transfer of the original Kittredge drawings to CAD format, including 3D modeling. This is being coordinated with George who still holds the copyright on the K-subs design and plans. Your project of taking digital measurements sounds very interesting, but if any part of the sub has been modified or not built exactly to plan the resulting models would not be identical to the original drawings. It sounds like you enjoy 3-D modeling so just from a winter project perspective it sounds like you'll have a good time taking the measurements and converting the data. It would certainly be interesting to see a "how it's put together" movie. PSUBS is committed to protecting Kittredge's copyright so we'd just have to be careful how such information was shared/distributed.JonJon I don't know if George Kittredge would be interested in taking a look at these new pictures or not to help use identify this little sub, but if he is, we would love to know if this was one of his 12 that was later modified a bit. It would be good to know if he put any kind of markings or serial numbers on them. I've looked a fair bit, but so far I don't see any thing. I know the interior is in sad shape, but take heart that we plan to remedy that. Some one left the hatch open and water got inside some time back. I'd like to know what year this submersible was built. I don't have Kittredge book for identifying some of the K subs, so perhaps I should get one.I plan to take hundreds of measurements using digital caliper of this sub and render it in Solidworks CAD to show all the parts and details inside and out. I could also do that for the K-350 model. I was thinking that if I do that with one or both models, then that CAD data and drawings created from them can be added to the plans sold in the PSUB.org store. Anyone that got the plans could see a 3D animated file on every single part as well at the main assembly and the sub-assembly's in a small program that can be downloaded for free. I've heard that the existing plans may have some parts that now have a more modern practical alternitive that could be changed in the new CAD models. Perhaps the Persistence could be used to base a new set of K-350 plans from. From that data a animated video could be made to show the parts going on step by step until you have a complete final assembly. I think I'm finally done now, sorry about the long war and peace emails.